Laminectomy

Kai had his laminectomy (spinal surgery) done on Monday.  Overall things went really well and they were able to release him from the hospital Tuesday afternoon.  There weren't any complications and he handled the anesthesia really well.  Monday afternoon he was in a lot of pain, so they gave him some extra pain medication to help, but other than that, he has been a champ through the whole thing.

He managed to pull out his IV though, so they had to put another one in.  It was a bit nerve-wracking in the beginning because I was the one who noticed first, and the only reason I did was because there was a pool of blood on his pillow right after he had been moving around.  My first thought was that the incision had opened, but when I moved his hand out of the way, I saw the blood leaking from his hand and not the wound.  The nurse took right over and quickly got the tape off and staunched the flow of blood.  Even still, my hands had blood all over them and we had to change out all of Kai's bedding because there was blood on it all.  Crazy how fast one can bleed!

He has been a little more sleepy than usual, but that is to be expected.  The doctor said that he can resume activities as tolerated.  I am really surprised, but Kai seems to be handling movement really well.  He gets upset when anything gets near the incision but that is to be expected.  He can't have a bath for three weeks, just sponge baths, and those aren't nearly as fun and cleansing as a real bath.

When awake, Kai has been vacillating between very content and very upset, often within a matter of minutes.  He gets more irritable just before he falls asleep, and as the pain medication starts to wear off.  Hopefully we will see a return to his happy disposition in the next few days as he recovers.

The results of Kai's latest blood gast are encouraging as well--his CO2 level came out as a 44.  Yay!  The ventilator is doing its job and helping him blow off some of the extra carbon dioxide (as well as keeping his airway open).  

We had a good experience in the CSU this time around.  The day nurse who took care of Kai both Monday and Tuesday was fantastic.  We didn't see too much of the night nurse because we slept at J's aunt and uncle's house in Bountiful, but she also seemed great.  I was a little wary after our last encounter in the CSU (which is where Kai's corneal ulcer happened), but everything went smoothly and all the staff were very attentive.  

The incision--yes, he has a really hairy back

Sleeping.  Such a sweet picture.  The purple coband is where the IV had been before he pulled it out.

Getting ready to leave--I think he was happy about the prospect of going home as well (or maybe just to get all the extra wires off).

On the ride home.  You can see the difference in his demeanor.  Above he was looking very sleepy and drugged, less than five minutes later he had perked up and was very happy (below).



At home, sleeping on daddy.